Facing plaints, govt may change Waqf property lease rules

NEW DELHI: Faced with enhanced litigation, declining income from waqf properties and protests from tenants, the government is planning to make amendments to the Waqf Properties' Lease Rules 2014 to enable implementation aimed at regulation of properties.

As on October 31, 2018 there are 5,74,491 registered waqf properties in the country. There are 24,906 cases pending in various courts pertaining to such properties.

In 2014 for the first time central rules were made to regulate grant and renewal of leases and fixation of rental on uniform basis for waqf properties. In 2018, the waqf committee led by retired Allahabad HC judge Justice Zakiullah Khan was set up to look into the implementation of the rules. The committee in its report submitted to the ministry of minority affairs on Thursday has sought reduction in reserve price for grant and renewal of rent lease for certain categories. The lease rules as of now provide for grant or renewal of lease by auction and determination of rental on the basis of 2% to 2.5% of market value based on the circle rates.

The committee recommended that the reserve price in case of hospitals, educational institutions and social sector institutions may be reduced from a minimum of 2% to 1%. For commercial activities, it proposed, the percentage be brought down from a minimum of 2.5% to 1.5% and in case of land for agriculture the reserve price be reduced to a minimum of 1% of the market value.

The committee found that the income of waqf boards from the properties in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand have reduced after the implementation of the waqf rules. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that a decision for the implementation of the recommendations will taken soon.